Kathleen Willis: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: AddisonWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Addison Village boardAge: 49Family: Married, 4 childrenOccupation: Librarian, Elmhurst CollegeEducation: Bachelor of Science, in Human Service Administration- Elmhurst College 2000, Masters in Library and information Services, University of Illinois, Champaign 2005.Civic involvement: AAUW, Kiwanis Club, District 4 Education Foundation, Special Events Commission of Addison.Elected offices held: District 4 School Board 2000-present.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: noCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 I would like to see new business growth in the community. Specifically in the Lake/ Mill Plaza. The Dominick's Store has been empty for way too long.Key Issue 2 While I do not necessarily believe in term limits, I think that we need to have some new faces on the village board. I am not running because I have a major complaint against the current board but because I think it is time for new input and a different look at things in the village.Key Issue 3 Unity of our very diverse population in Addison. Addison is home to many different populations. It is important to encourage these populations to work together for the good of one community. Addison should become a community that embraces all these differences to make one stronger and diverse community.Questions Answers What makes you the best candidate for the job?I have lived in Addison most of my life. I have been active in the schools as a parent and then as a school board member.I also have been involved in the community working with both boy scouts and girl scouts for many years. I have been involved in community issues through my involvement with community days and the special events commission and also with Kiwanis. Working on the District 4 education foundation I have had the opportunity to build good relationships with a number of local businesses. In addition I have been involved with the Addison/Elmhurst branch of AAUW and have worked the last 3 years on a conference for Latina middle school girls and their mothers called Dare to Dream which encourages the girls to stay in school and value education.Given the delicate balance between the need for revenue and over-taxing local businesses, what is your opinion of your community's present level of local sales taxes? Is the tax just right, too low or too high? Explain.If we want to encourage more business to come to Addison and to support the business that are here, even though it would be helpful for the village budget to increase local sales taxes, this is not the time to do it. We will need to look at making reductions to the budget and finding other sources of revenue.Talking with your friends and neighbors, what seems to be their biggest public safety concern? Explain the concern as you see it, and discuss how you think it should be addressed.While Addison in my opinion is a great community we need to be realistic in the fact that we are not immune to crime. Therefore we need to educate our community on ways to be alert to crime and to report suspicious activities to the police. We also need to encourage community members to utilize support resources when needed, such as the community switchboard or the county health department.In these tight economic times, municipal budgets have to be prioritized. Where, if anywhere, could the current budget be trimmed, and conversely, are there areas the budget does not give enough money to?Public safety is one area that can not be trimmed. Our police and fire need to maintain the excellent standards that they have had. I know that our fire protection district is a separate taxing body but we still need to support it. Trimming some of our administrative costs may be a place to look at by cross training people in different departments but we need to be cautious to not trim to the extent that we hurt personnel moral.What#146;s one good idea you have to better the community that no one is talking about yet?Candidate did not respond.